Now that the 2024 season stands at a crossroads, anything can happen at any moment. One such program whose playoff dreams are hanging like a thread is James Franklin’s Penn State. They are yet to bag a couple of wins to land it big. But as enticing the journey might look ahead, analyst Josh Pate takes up the duty to caution Franklin’s Nittany Lions beforehand. After all, the wise man has seen how things turn sour all of a sudden, with schedules going all wrong. One of the recent examples is the Big 10 giants, who fell prey to an ugly fate. But looks like Franklin and Co. is shooing all the bad vibes away, keeping the playoff picture out of focus.

Now how would you feel if a top analyst looks super-concerned about your fav program? But atleast you will get a heads-up right. Thanks to Pate for sharing his concerns about Franklin’s army. That’s because even landing in the No.4 Nittany Lions, would not guarantee them the playoffs. Forget their skills and game plans, analyst Pate looks concerned about something else. With only one loss this season, Franklin is now heading his program for a face-off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers that’s scheduled for November 23. On that note, Pate got all worried as he claimed on his podcast, “I’m concerned that everyone is just assuming that Penn State’s lock into this home playoff spot they replaced the side.”

He then shifts to the statistics of how the Golden Gophers, “are six and four…it is reasonable to expect an 8-2 caliber performance like a top 25 caliber performance from Minnesota.” But let’s keep the numbers aside as Pate then focussed on something more important. He already raised a warning, “We have a big scheduling Dynamic situation on our hands here which we seem to keep running into in the Big 10.” And what’s that?

Things are already tough for Franklin as “Penn State’s playing their fifth straight game it’s the second leg of back-to-back road games.” Luckily things are better for Wisconsin as they enjoyed their idle time at home, making the most use of their bye week. So is another Big 10 ugly fate in the making? 

James Franklin’s Nittany Lions finds strength in adversity

Before the playoff, Pate has raised similar concerns for Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks. Just like Franklin’s boys, the schedule got a bit rough for them as well. It was more of a to-and-fro game, as they hardly had any time to rest, “I do too, but I have a little concern for a team playing their eighth consecutive game, flying across two time zones for the third time in the last few weeks.” Just like Franklin and co. will be facing off Minnesota who are fresh off their bye week, the Ducks’ rivals Wisconsin were well rested as well. But looks like it’s only Pate who is obsessing over Penn State and struggling with fatigue.

The Nittany Lions are not trying to talk about their making the inaugural 12-team tournament and are rather counting on their strengths. For instance, their signal-caller Drew Allar has his eyes on the present, “I think the quality of teams that we go in and play each week speaks for itself. But as far as rankings, it doesn’t really matter until it matters.” So is their HC. 

For James Franklin, even though the ACC and Big 12 are big shots, they often lack the depth that otherwise Big 10 and SEC are privileged with. So he looks quite positive about his squad, “You see some of these schools that maybe have one or two big games a year that they got to get up for. That’s different. So I’m proud of our guys and how they’re doing it, week in and week out. And again, we just want to get better.” Focused and determined, Penn State might just flip the script on Josh Pate’s concerns, Ducks-style.